The EU Commission wants to take additional money for the network expansion.
(Photo: dpa)
Brussels Telecom companies and Internet groups should soon receive mail from the EU Commission. The authority explores the possibilities of how the providers of content on the Internet can be asked to pay. The Handelsblatt has received a draft of a questionnaire with which a corresponding consultation process is to be initiated.
In it, the Commission recalls an EU decision according to which “all market participants who benefit from digital change” should make a “fair and proportionate contribution” to the infrastructure. Telecom companies see this as an opportunity to be financially supported in expanding their data lines.
The idea of the EU Commission is obvious, not to oblige every content provider to levy taxes, but only those from which a particularly large amount of data is retrieved. For example, the Commission asks the companies from which sources the data that is sent over the telecom lines originates.
The groups should name the ten most important data sources. Streaming providers such as Netflix or Alphabet would probably be particularly affected.
Specifically, the Commission also wants to know whether the content providers should be used to finance data lines. One way to do this would be direct payments, another would be a digital levy that goes into an EU fund or into national funds. The Commission also asks who exactly should pay the contributions and who should benefit from them. Another question relates to possible risks.
Telecom companies warn of overloaded network
Both sides have been waiting for the questionnaire for months and have already sorted their arguments. The telecom companies point to growing data streams, which are likely to continue to increase with the Metaverse and growing cloud services. They see the danger that they will not be able to adapt the network to demand quickly enough with their current resources.
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The big tech companies, on the other hand, emphasize that it is not they, but the users who are requesting data via the Internet. Accordingly, it is unfair to levy taxes on content providers. In addition, Internet traffic does not grow excessively quickly.
The European telecoms regulator Berec sided with the content providers in October. There is currently no reasonable justification for an intervention in the market.
However, some EU member states are putting pressure on the responsible commissioners Margrethe Vestager and Thierry Breton. If you want to implement the project during this term of office, you have to hurry: A new European Parliament will be elected in spring 2024. Even in the months leading up to it, it is traditionally difficult to finally pass laws.
More: Deutsche Telekom is in court with the Facebook group Meta